To address the problems of high complexity and low accuracy associated with existing time-domain direction of arrival (DOA) estimation schemes, a novel approach based on virtual multi-channel in time-varying metasurface (TVM) is proposed. The harmonic properties of TVM are exploited in this method, with the incident signal being modulated by a periodic modulation function. This modulation maps the single-channel received signal to multiple harmonics, effectively equivalent to multi-channel reception by distributing the single-channel signal across multiple harmonic orders. Subsequently, an orthogonal pattern is designed to receive the signal, resulting in the acquisition of mutually independent virtual multi-channel signals. The autocorrelation matrix is then estimated using the Fourier coefficient matrix related to the modulation function, and the multi-signal classification (MUSIC) algorithm is employed for DOA estimation. Numeric simulations have demonstrated the validity of the virtual multi-channel scheme. The performance of this approach closely approximates that of DOA estimation based on multi-channel arrays.
波达方向(Direction of Arrival, DOA)估计是雷达和无线通信中的一项关键技术,在阵列信号处理、传感器网络、遥感等领域得到了广泛的研究。例如,在卫星移动通信[1]中,需要获得DOA估计辅助形成高精确度的定向波束。在智能天线技术中[2],DOA估计有助于引导波束形成,从而实现大容量通信。特别是随着物联网和第六代通信技术(6G)的快速发展,对低功耗、高数据速率的通信需求日益增加,这将进一步增加对DOA估计技术的需求[3]。
根据估计所需数据维度不同,DOA估计方法可以分为两类。一类是多通道DOA估计,天线阵列中每个阵元后接一个射频链路,这必然导致复杂的硬件结构以及很高的功耗。在过去的研究中已经开发了许多DOA估计算法,这些算法主要利用多通道之间的相位差、振幅差或时间差来估计入射方向,保证了DOA估计的估计精度。经典算法包括以多信号分类(Multiple Signal Classification, MUSIC)算法[4]和通过旋转不变性技术估计信号参数算法[5]。后续还提出了子空间拟合类算法,如最大似然[6]以及加权子空间拟合算法[7];此外以正交匹配追踪算法[8]为代表的压缩感知算法已被用于从稀疏信号中恢复DOA。另一类是单通道DOA估计,整个天线阵列中只后接一个射频链路,具有结构简单、功耗低的优势。单通道估计算法主要包括利用音码复用的Watson-Watt方法[9]、伪多普勒方法[10]和干涉仪方法[11]等。然而,这些方法存在精度低、计算复杂度高或抗干扰能力弱等问题。时间调制阵列增加了时间维度从而改善了单通道DOA估计精度低的问题[12-14],引起了人们的极大关注。然而,现有的方法依然存在很大的局限性,一是实现高性能DOA估计时计算复杂度的增加[12];二是在信噪比较低时,高次谐波的测量误差过大影响DOA估计精度[13];三是需要一个高速射频开关来满足理想的方波函数[14]。
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